Misconduct on the part of accountants and bookkeepers is an unfortunate reality. While most accountants and bookkeepers are honest and take their work seriously, the small number of bad apples justify taking a cautious approach. As a business owner, any level of misconduct places your entire business at risk. How to tell if Accountant Is A Crook Warning signs Here are some warning signs that your accountant may be engaging in misconduct. Being evasive or difficult to … [Read more...]

When it comes time to pitching to investors, most business owners play it safe. They have their traditional PowerPoint presentation that includes the Mission, Vision, Product description, management team experience, sales strategy, financial projections and competitive advantages. That’s fine, but it isn’t enough to convince investors to write you a check. Experienced angel investors and venture capitalists evaluate dozens or hundreds of potential investments each year. Most of them have the … [Read more...]

Many companies – even small companies – have communications problems between their finance and sales departments. How to get the finance and sales departments to collaborate Even if each “department” consists of only one person, they still have a hard time talking to each other. The problem can be even worse at smaller companies that don’t have sophisticated feedback or evaluation mechanisms and can’t afford expensive consultants to help them work through the problem.   Stereotypes   The … [Read more...]

As a business owner, you know that life is full of contradictions. A bank will lend your company obscene amounts of money…exactly when you don’t need it. But what happens when your business desperately needs financing? It’s the hardest thing in the world to get. Suppliers tell us they “value our business” and in the same breath tell us they don’t deliver after 5:00 p.m. on Friday when you ask them if they'll be there at 5:15 p.m. Another example of a contradiction: You reading this article. Let … [Read more...]